The Golden Temple is located in Amritsar, India and is the most important sacred place for Sikh shrine. Like others such temples inside have communal kitchens and canteens called Langarus. In Langarus is offered food to all visitors, regardless of their faith and history. Often the food is vegetarian, to be able to eat it all, even people on diets.
The biggest Langarus is exactly the Golden Temple. It feeds 40 000 people each day for free. During religious holidays and weekends Langarus gives food to about 100,000 people per day. All this is possible thanks to donations and volunteers.
About 90% of the staff is composed of volunteers. They help in preparation and serving of food, but that’s not all. In the kitchen a day pass at 12,000 kg flour. Lentils are cooked in huge cauldrons, which require 2 people to mix it. The big holidays, the kitchen is using the automatic bread machine that makes 25,000 loaves per hour. Once food is cooked, it is poured into smaller containers to enable volunteers carry and serve it.
Everyone, regardless of what faith manifests and where person comes from, can eat in the temple. Women, men and children sit together. Before entering, you must take off your shoes and boots and cover the hair. All sit on the floor, equal so no one is upwards than any other. In the temple there are two rooms, where they feed 5,000 people.
After all feed, dishes and utensils are left to another group of volunteers. They wash dishes five times and ordered dishes for the next visitors.
Free kitchen is a tradition started by the first Sikh guru, Guru Nanak. His idea was to follow the principle of the equality of all people regardless of religion, color, age, sex or social status – something revolutionary for conditions of caste society in India in the 16th century.
